Discovery Kingdom's sawfish off to New Orleans

Conservation

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Photo: Kat Wade, Special To The Chronicle

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Buzz, the sawfish in the the Shark Experience tank at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif. on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 is a unique elasmobranchs that possess a large toothed rostrum, or saw as it is commonly called. The body is flattened and they spend much of their time lying on the sea bottom.. Buzz has lived at Six Flags for nearly two decades -- since April 14, 1991 Ð when he measured 13 feet long and weighed over 250 lbs. Sawfish are rays that inhabit nearshore waters in tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate regions of the world.
Kat Wade / Special to the Chronicle less

Buzz, the sawfish in the the Shark Experience tank at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif. on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 is a unique elasmobranchs that possess a large toothed rostrum, or saw as it ... more

Photo: Kat Wade, Special To The Chronicle

Discovery Kingdom's sawfish off to New Orleans

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Romance can be tricky for anyone, but imagine if you had a 2-foot saw protruding from your forehead.

Such is the case for Buzz, a 14-foot sawfish from Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. Not only is Buzz one of the oddest looking creatures on the planet, but he's also one of the loneliest. Only five sawfish exist in captivity and his species, once abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, is hovering near extinction.

But Buzz's days of solitude are ending. On Monday morning, Buzz arrived at an aquarium in New Orleans, where he'll soon be united with a female sawfish in hopes of making baby sawfish.

"I miss Buzz, but we can't hold him back," said John Shultz, head of the aquarium at Discovery Kingdom, where Buzz had lived for 19 years. "I'm happy for the species. I hope we can learn a lot from this."

Buzz's travels began in 1968 when he was accidentally caught by a pair of fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico. Buzz's fate is not unusual - accidental capture by fishermen is one of the chief reasons sawfish are nearly gone from the wild.

But Buzz was lucky. The fishermen took him to an aquarium in Galveston, Texas, where he lived for 24 years, followed by two years at another Texas aquarium, finally landing at Discovery Kingdom in 1991.

He was well loved in Vallejo. Staff and visitors were fascinated by the 2 1/2 -foot cartilage saw that graced his face, particularly around feeding time. The saw acts as a built-in shish-kebab skewer, allowing the sawfish to impale sardines, mackerel or other goodies swimming in unsuspecting schools near the sandy bottom of the gulf.

After stabbing its prey, the sawfish will scrape it off on the sea floor and scarf it through its mouth, which is on its underside.

"When we had a sawfish here, people just fell in love with it," said John McCosker, chair of aquatic biology at the California Academy of Sciences. "They're one of the most elusive and mysterious and fascinating fish in the aquarium."

Despite the razor-sharp face weapon and shark-like fins, sawfish are harmless to people. In fact, Buzz was downright affectionate to those who cared for him.

He seemed to love being pet and rubbed, fluttering his eyes and flapping his raylike wings and "jiggering all over the place," Shultz said.

"I'd put a hand out and he'd put his saw in my hand," he said. "Sometimes he'd just swim up to us and lie there."

About a year ago staff at Discovery Kingdom met with national aquarium officials and got to talking about Buzz. They agreed that Buzz would be better off in the Big Easy, where he could share a tank with other gulf natives and hopefully someday breed.

"It's very bittersweet. You just don't see animals like that," said Mike Muraco, Discovery Kingdom's director of animal care. "But it was the right thing to do."

Discovery Kingdom staff began preparing Buzz three months ago for the move. First they trained him to swim into a smaller tank adjacent to the main tank he shared with a school of sharks.

When the moving truck arrived last week, they were easily able to lift him out of the smaller tank - away from the sharks - and place him on a stretcher for transfer to the moving truck.

He was calm throughout the five-minute walk across the park, Shultz said.

The moving truck was outfitted with a tank, filters, pumps, heaters and a generator. Two drivers and an aquarium official accompanied Buzz on the 2,000-mile trek.

Buzz replaces Mr. Bill, a sawfish at the Audubon Institute who died in Hurricane Katrina.

"It has not been the same here since we lost Mr. Bill," Burnette said. "There's been a void in our collection and in our hearts.

"Having Buzz, it just feels complete now," she added. "We can't wait to get to know him better."

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